IP NOTES 9/13

9/13
Thucydides
jesus. so long. so much reading.


Intro
Why read Thucydides?
-Th. is the 'classic' polysci book
-has IP even changed substantively since th.?
-almost all political science is derived from th., even hobbes translated him
-winston churchill even found time in wwii to read th.
-th.'s book is about the fate of the first free society (athens was the first democracy)
~520BC- emergence of athenian democracy
~490/480BC- greeks are able to expell the persians TWICE
~480-~400 BC- golden age of greece
~333BC- macedonia owns greece, then alexander the great goes and conquers persia

Who is Thucydides?
-we know nearly nothing about him
-all we know is written by he himself in his book
-he was a general, served in a disastrous battle, was forced into exile
-during his exile, he wrote the book
-book 8 is a draft
-there is no conclusiion to his book, no analysis
-associated with pericles


Worldview and Method
Th. wrote this during the greek enlightenment
-period where philosophy, natural sciences, medicine, etc were founded. this is the foundation of western civilization
Secular v. Religious
-Th. writes his account WITHOUT gods coming in and affecting the outcome
-this is new, contrast with Homer and Herodotus (both of these guys have gods as actors)
-Th. recognizes the power of religion, however
-actors are influenced by gods, but not directly controlled by them
-western cannon begins with the first page of thucydides (Hume? Kant confirms)

Materialism: Physis v. Nomos
physis- nature
nomos- law/convention

natural philosophers advanced the idea that we could observe human nature by setting aside the nomos
they argue that physis (human nature) is CONSTANT over time
Th. claims that there are three things that drive human nature:
1)fear
2)honor
3)self-interest
-NOTHING changes these
-we can expect to see in the future the exact same patterns as a manifestation of these three points of human nature

thucydides is pre-socratic
SOCRATES claims that there are "natural laws", th. does not

Dialectics- Thesis, Antithesis & Synthesis
Sophists- wandering teachers, taught rhetoric
-LOGOS (speech) was the key talent valued in athenian politics (the ability to persuade)
-all arguments are formed in terms of three parts-
-thesis
-antithesis
-synthesis
-th. sets up his entire book as a series of pairs (thesis & antithesis), and something coming out of the pairs (synthesis)

this leads to a few simplist arguments from the book
-realist argument- power trumps morality
-comes from the Melian Dialogue
-melians ask athenians not to massacre them, athenians do anyways
-problem with this is that power is thesis, morality is antithesis, where is synthesis?

Medical Model: Genesis, Crisis, & Resolution
-Hippocrates- 'father of modern medicine'
-wrote the hippocratic oath
-his work 'airs, waters, and places'- was his looking for sources of diseases in those three things
-he gives us a model for disease
-early medicine was more observational than practical
they thought of disease in three stages-
-genesis
-crisis
-resolution
th. sets up his book in this way as well (following the medical model)
th. says that the actors he favors are gifted with 'prognosis'
prognosis- ability for foresight

Tragedy
-tragedy for the greeks was not the same as today
had to have a 'hero', an exemplar
hero had to have a fatal flaw
flaw leads to disaster
-in th.'s account, ATHENS is the heroic figure
-lots of flaws in greek tragedy, most common is HUBRIS (or arrogance)
stages:
-success
-overconfidence
-miscalculation
-catastrophe
-th. organizes his book in the form of a tragedy
-culmination of th.'s tragedy comes near end of book5- melian dialogue, melians get slaughtered
-afterwards, in book 6, athenians filled with hubris, decide to invade sicily, catastrophe occurs (entire invading force is destroyed)

Origins of Civilization
-originially, there was a golden age, afterwards there is only decline (classical view)
-th. views this exactly opposite
-in the beginning there was great disorder, insecurity, poverty
-things only get better, there has been substantial progress
-th's theory of origin (nasty, brutish, and short) is used by hobbes as the 'natural state'
-key figure in this ascension from brutality is MINOS
-minos does this with a concentration of military power
-forms a navy, drives out barbarians, forms a nation-state
That's why this is a primal realist text

Geopolitics: Geography and Technology
Geography- Land and sea
in geopolitics- FIRST look at the lay of the land
-greece is characterized by fragmented topography (lots of islands)
-contrast this with egypt, mesopotamia
both of these are river basins, lots of land
because of this, there has always been single actors (no insulation, therefore no natural barriers)
this gives single rulers, single states
Greece becomes a natural seat for a myriad city-states, all independent
-Persian empire at this point is freaking huge
-how did greeks win?
-battle of marathon- greeks use natural topography to outwit persians
-battle of salamis- greeks again use natural topography to outwit persians in naval battle
-another key feature here is SEA TECHNOLOGY
-every 50 miles you transport something overland doubles the cost of that good
-this means that greece has massive advantages in commerce, due to abundance of sea transport
this is only PRIOR to invention of railroad

Land warfare: infantry and oligarchy
-Soldiers WERE citizens.
-those who fought were those who ruled
-During Homeric period (bronze age)
bronze is expensive, as are horses
this period is a narrow oligarchy (because everything is so expensive)
-THEN iron was developed
iron was MUCH cheaper than bronze, also much much stronger
the central military force in greece is the hoplite during 700sBC
hoplites are trained in phalanxes (groups), given iron weapons, HIGHLY trained
cheapness of iron, necessity for more hoplites makes this age a BROADER oligarchy
Sparta embodies this (perfect example)
an assembly of hoplites rules

Maritime Warfare: navies, commerce, and democracy
-in athens, the key development was the TRIREME
expensive, yes, but also dependent on large numbers of highly trained oarsmen
this makes people, even though they have no wealth at all, extremely important
this leads to more open democratic method

Economy
-Greek mode of economy rests on slavery
-this means that WAR PAYS
defeated armies give slaves, who then give wealth.